Basic Education Minister, Ms Siviwe Gwarube, delivered her 2025/26 Budget Vote Debate in Parliament, Cape Town on 10 July 2025, under the theme, Builders vs Breakers: Shaping South Africa’s Future Through Education.
“In every generation, a choice must be made: to be a builder or a breaker. Builders roll up their sleeves, confront hard truths, lead, and work every day to strengthen our schools, support our teachers and uplift every learner. Breakers, on the other hand, sow division, undermine progress and sacrifice the future of our children for cheap political point scoring. This budget is for the builders; those who understand that lasting change is not forged in the headlines, but in classrooms and communities where our children learn, dream and grow. In the past year, we have laid strong foundations to restore the public’s confidence in basic education. This is what it means to be a builder: to act with discipline, agility and purpose in the face of constraint, protecting children’s education at all costs. This year’s budget is a signal of our continued commitment to targeted investments that close gaps and unlock every learner’s potential,” she said.
Minister Gwarube added that, “We have announced in December last year that we are undertaking a strategic reorientation of our basic education system towards improving the quality of Foundational Learning. Improving Foundational Learning is at the heart of our strategy to ensure that more learners progress through our system, exit with quality results and are better placed to study further to start and sustain successful businesses or enter the job market”.
The Minister again reaffirmed her commitment towards the five key priorities: Expanding access to quality Early Childhood Development; Strengthening literacy and numeracy, especially in the Foundation phase; Advancing inclusive education; Enhancing teacher training and school leadership development; and Improving the safety and quality of school environments. She also highlighted the role of partnerships: “In September 2024, I undertook national Listening and Learning Tour meetings with provincial leaders, visiting over 50 schools to hear directly from principals, teachers, learners and parents. In November 2024, I convened 100 private sector leaders through a Partnerships for Education initiative, a collaborative effort that is already bearing fruit.
The DBE has been allocated a total budget of over R35 billion, reflecting an increase of over 8% from the previous year for Provincial Planning; Curriculum Delivery; Provincial Support; Teacher Development and Provincial Delivery. The ECD Conditional Grant increases to over R1.7 billion, supporting provincial planning, workforce development and quality assurance systems. Over R230 million has been allocated for the ECD Nutrition Pilot, ensuring that learners in this critical phase receive daily meals, especially in rural and under-resourced areas. R162 million is set aside for ECD infrastructure, focusing on the upgrading and formalisation of centres in underserved communities. The Curriculum Policy Support and Monitoring programme receives over R4.6 billion, an increase of over 14%, enabling national oversight, teacher support and curriculum delivery. The Workbook Programme is funded at over R1.2 billion, ensuring free provision of quality learning materials from Grade R through to Grade 9, including Braille versions and adaptive materials. A further R57 million is allocated for the Mother-Tongue based Bilingual Education programme. The Teacher Development and HR Management Programme receives over R1.8 billion to empower teachers. The Education Infrastructure Grant (EIG) increases to R15.3 billion. The School Nutrition Programme, feeding over 9 million learners, is funded at R10 billion.
“This budget reflects our constitutional duty and belief in education as the most powerful lever for transformation. To the builders: teachers, officials, parents, civil society, stakeholders and members of this House, this budget is for you. To the breakers, I say again: if you cannot or will not build, please do not stand in the way of those who do.”
In conclusion, the Minister expressed her gratitude to the Deputy Minister, the Director-General, national and provincial officials, public entities, teachers, stakeholders and, most importantly, the learners of South Africa.